ashes of the leaf
by kotei no seiryuu
Summary: We are what was left of a great people, we are the voice of a billion souls whose bonds remain with us...we are bringers of death and protectors of life...we are...shinobi.. Narutox Liara or Tali, slight lemons with other characters, Oc x Miranda. Sasuke x Ashley, other pairings later on


**Hey guys this is Kotei, here I am presenting you something new and improved, I am presenting you "The Ashes of the Leaf"; a re-edit of my former story "Awakening of an Ancient God." **

**I won't take long with this and bore you, so I am just going to give you a briefing.**

**1. This story will start seven years before mass effect storyline commences, so it would be about 2177, but the prologue will start twenty five years past the Fourth Shinobi War. **

**2. Naruto will be taking the place of Shepard**

**3. Naruto is god like in realistic view points; he has broken all laws of scientific theory, is stronger than any being but even he cannot defeat the full armada of say 100,000 Reapers alone. **

**The story itself will be hopefully periodically updated every two weeks, the chapter length after this one will reach between six to eight thousand words, I expect to be on part two or mass effect two storyline within the next sixteen chapters hopefully. **

**Let us begin**

**Prologue: End of an Age**

_Every story has a beginning….some saw there was nothing, but life became anew in the world, some say there was life, but a mass extinction came along and brought forth a new generation of life._

_In this story …on a planet known as Gaea…in the beginning there was nothingbut endless war that ravaged the land; the blood of millions drenched the earth, allowing it to drink the impure substance which brought life to an immortal tree, filled with a power of a million souls that converged into energy. The tree had bloomed one single fruit, it was stated that whoever ate this fruit would become a god and could bend all of reality to their will. No one had ate the godly fruit, until one princess of a foreign land ate the fruit._

_This princess was named Kaguya, a woman whose power was not of any world, her strength and beauty were matched by no one… and when eating the fruit she was a woman graced with power and brought peace throughout the land by any means; however this peace was one forced…an illusion that would consumed all under her great tree…no living creature was save, all things subdued in an internal illusion filled with their personal wishes and desires, leaving the world in abandoned with only the princess and her holy tree._

_Later in her life she had given birth to two sons, Hamura who was born with his mother's pale eyes, vitality, and physical prowess; then there Haguromo, who was born with her special eye, the Rinnegan. Both held powers that were like her own and it was her idealism and greed which drove her to claim the chakra of her children. _

_It was said that the battle had lasted for several days, not one soul will ever know, but it was in the end that Kaguya was sealed away by her own children…yet that did not mean that there would be another enemy that would face the brothers…_

_For the worldly god tree had awakened, freeing those in its Illusion, and turning into a beast, a creature that was of the natural earth, was the life of the world, but was also a force of nature that destroyed the world several times over. It went by several names; Ame no Hitotsukami, Deidarabotchi, Datara, Juubi, but it's one true name…Shinju._

_Kaguya's will and spirit had transferred over to Shinju, bringing sentient conscience into it as it became the Juubi. A sing swipe of one of its tails had caused the land mass to separate because of its hunt for finding the sons, once finding them a great battle had commenced; however, like its master the Juubi too was ironically seal, its chakra split in half and sealed into both the brothers, the body becoming a husk which later on became the moon._

_Later of Hagoromo's life he had been given two sons, one of which would transfer his ideals of Ninshuu to the world in order to bring peace; Hagaroma's oldest son Indra was a genius, gifted in almost all ways. He had no desire for help and his belief that force and strength was needed in obtaining true peace. Meanwhile his youngest, Ashura, was an underdog, his skills were lacking everywhere and his powers were abysmal; however, with the help and cooperation of the people he had learned from over the years had made him into a genius of hard work. Ashura unlike his brother believed that compassion was the key that was truly needed in order to bring peace: that the people needed to cooperate and understand in order to make the world a brighter place._

_Seeing the compassion that his youngest son held, he had nominated his son Ashura to become the heir of Ninshuu and the second Sage of Six Paths on his deathbed, hoping that the world would shine upon the Era of Ashura.. Sadly, this would not go of consequence, for the two brothers, one swallowed in his darkness and the other fighting to bring him to light would fight in a battle that brought forth a blood feud. _

_The Successor was Ashura, but in the end the rule had become Indra's, for war had come once more: a war in which their descendants would face in a feud that was filled with hatred._

_Descendants of Indra, the Uchiha Clan_

_Descendants of Ashura, the Senju Clan_

_Both of these clans would fight each other for three hundred years before the clan wars were over and villages were made. The Senju and Uchiha had united with one another to make the leaf village, with having the descendants of Hamura, the Uzumaki and Hyuuga clans as their close allies._

_Yet despite the formation of the leaf village it was not to end the feud of the Uchiha and Senju. Madara Uchiha, the reincarnation of Indra and Hashirama Senju, the reincarnation of Ashura, would have a bout that would continue the ongoing battle of Ashura and Indra._

_It would only be a hundred years later that fate of Indra and Ashura would finally end with their last reincarnations within the last Uchiha, and the last male Uzumaki, the closest relative to the Senju: Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki, the Kyuubi Jinchurricki. _

_Their friendship and rivalry over the years had brought them through trial and tribulation, until in the end that they joined forces in the fourth and final Shinobi World War. It had started the goal of creating the infinite illusion once more and had ended with the Era of Ashura beginning. _

_They had faced a man who wanted to be a god_

_Both had faced a revived Madara Uchiha, who had the power of a god, whom had successfully unleashed the infinite Tsukuyomi upon the world._

_A beast that was a god_

_Lastly faced the rabbit goddess Kaguya, who was revived by her will passed on by Shinju and took possession of Madara's body. The two males, using their newly awakened powers and with the help of their former squad mates, had successfully defeated Kaguya. _

_In the end of all battles, the world had become free of war and had received the spoils of it in the end. Soon it would lead onto the future of Gaea being led by Science and Democracy for the next two hundred years…until death came like shadows…_

**Song Playing: The Eternal Forest**

**BOOM!**

A crimson beam of light erupted from the sky smashing into the ground, buildings disintegrated in the instant the beam shot through. Flame had sprung out from all sections of the region, the fire smothering the land in which had become a home for all living things. The citizens from below hurried in panic as they headed down to the closest shelters, to the closest areas of security, but there would not be one for all of them, but even then the survivors would not last in the on desolation.

The sky hand darkened, the land became a large shadow mass as a low humming erupted from the sky, following a low groan that was so hollow that it sounded as if it was death itself. The shadow separated into smaller, but still large shapes, landing on the ground with a heavy thud as the ground shook. A metallic roar erupted, the few people who dared to look back had seen a titanic metallic beast that looked identical to a parasite, it was within seconds that those who had seen the creature had their last look of life staring upon a deathly red light.

The metallic creatures, massive artificial intelligence known as the Reapers, stormed upon the land, smaller ones wandering around firing upon the civilian life that was surrounding the place, killing off the indigenous life nearby, as those massive in size focused on the center of the city, facing the primary threat that was around the great city.

Men standing upon skyscrapers, buildings around the open area looked upon the creatures with several forms of emotion; fear, panic, anger, calm. Many were scattered around in sections; however overall there were tens upon thousands following behind, hiding within the shadows around the buildings, all of which were battle ready holding rifles, blades, scrolls, or simply themselves.

A young man that looked like he was in his late teens stood upon a needle of a skyscraper stared upon the large beings; his pale blue eyes were covered by his silky blonde hair. His eyes closed as he made a hand sign, flaring out his chakra everywhere as his jutsu activated. 'Everyone this is captain Yamanaka, giving you the plan that Commander Nara enforced with me' he took a soft breath before he continued once more. _'We are going to use guerilla war fare tactics, members of the hyuuga clan will find weak points in the armor, but tankers and heavy hitters will unleash direct attacks upon the joints, lower body, inside, and their main weapon.'_

One of the larger reapers, a dreadnaught class, groaned as steam erupted from its cannon section, slowly its shell rose up to show the massive weapon of destruction preparing to engage first. The captain opened his eyes to gaze upon his robotic enemy and smirked.

'_We know they are weak to intense fire and lightning jutsu, wind jutsu can damage them if we put enough effort in softening that plating they. Use lightning jutsu to shut them down or disable them, and use your strongest fire jutsu to burn a hole through their armor plating.'_

Many of the shinobi forces flinched momentarily as the fire from the reaper dreadnaught class fired its cannon, causing the many that were direct or near the line of fire to avoid the blast all directly. Sadly, not all managed to escape the incineration, the captain looked upon the building he stood in flames and narrowed his eyes, his face showing grim features.

'_I will not lie…this is a suicide mission, for twenty years we have fought these things off, we have killed hundreds of these things, but now they are bringing pretty much all they have on our asses. We have no time to escape, if we fight we die, if we run, we will just die late…but that is not going to happen. Today we die in the last great city this planet has, the city that was born under the unified nations. This is our home, our motherland, and we will not let them take it from us without us giving them a run for their money!' _the voice of the Yamanaka erupted into their minds _'We are remnants of our greatest warriors, we are the people of Gaea, the protectors of peace, but above all else we are…'_

"**SHINOBI!" **all of them roared out as the launched upon the giant masses with a battle cry that would reach out to the corners of the universe.

From afar a man stared at the blast of chakra explosions from chakra cannons, the burning explosion of ninjutsu, and barrage of beams blasting upon the city , several buildings dropping to the ground. The man sighed softly and groaned before he placed a cigarette in his mouth and lit it with his lighter. The man stood about 5'11, and looked as if he was in his mid-twenties, his skin tone an olive tan color, he had small scars that showed upon his face that graced upon his lower lip, chin, and slightly above his right eyebrow. His hair was up in a ponytail, but a small part of his hair lay in a middle of his forehead. He wiped the sweat off his forehead as he looked onward over battle which was slowly becoming more one sided by the minute. Shikamaru had seen many battles when he was younger, hell had even helped with saving the world from a man who could have easily taken a thousand of these creatures down; even shinobi forces back in the day would have been more battle ready and primed, but that was nearly two hundred years ago.

He thought it too troublesome to live such a long lifespan, once team seven had defeated Kaguya, her burst of chakra released all over land, those that where in the tree sacks and outside of it had absorbed the residual chakra in the air, not only released them from their entrapment, but also increased their vitality by tenfold. The average person that had lived on Gaea that held a lifespan up to a hundred years could now live at the near age of a hundred could now live near the age of a thousand. When this was discovered it advanced the medical and science field of the Shinobi world by fifty years, later in those years the scientists that found remnants of a destroyed relay that was within a distant region of the world, which increased development of the world by three hundred years within just fifteen years. The current Kage of the Shinobi alliance had forged a union that would make a united village in which would establish the peace and prosperity of the Shinobi world, where the Kage not only feel as the strongest military leaders, but also as democratic force.

Two hundred years have passed since the unification, since the advancement of the Shinobi world that is Gaea. The Konoha section and Konoha itself had four Hokage go by and each retired every thirty years. First it was Kakashi Hatake, _Kakashi no Sharingan_, _Kaminari no Ookami, _the _Rokudaime_. _Hachidaime_ was Sasuke Uchiha, _Koku no Tengu_, _the ghost of Indra_, _Taka_, _Kyuudaime_ was Konohamaru Saurtobi, _Sarujin_, _Yama no Sennin. _However, none will ever forget the one Hokage that truly ruled with peace, whose life held tragedy, conviction, happiness, and peace. He was _Nanadaime Hokage_, _Spirit of Ashura, Gama Sennin, Savior of the World, Jinchurriki of the nine, Kami no Shinobi. _Out of all his titles he was referred to as one name, Naruto Uzumaki.

After Konohamaru's reign was over, the villages had dropped the end of the Kage and formed a council, the Shinobi of the old days were replaced by a new generation which focused more on technology rather the art of chakra and life. For fifty years the council reigned, only before the coming of the Reapers had arrived.

They came as they left, like ghosts that descended silently in the sky, destroying the villages one by one, capturing those who survived the destruction and leaving. Many had used conventional weapons which were of chakra format. While the battle artillery had dropped some, it was the Shinobi forces that did the most significant damage, but that was soon to decline as well.

Shikamaru came to the assumption that the newly formed Shinobi forces had no effect on the reapers, they were three generations fresh, not true Shinobi like the old generation like himself or the first generation of the new age Shinobi. They had only Chunin level skill, even then their use of chakra was limited. Many of the previous generation of Shinobi had placed themselves in seclusion from the newer generations, died of sickness or from the unexpected reaper assault in the first year, or severely crippled their skills over the last two decades.

In the end of the second decade the Shinobi had killed up to ten thousand reapers, before the artificial entities came down in full mass, wiping out two billion, leaving only a few hundred thousand to hide in the last sanctuary.

The Jonin commander of two hundred years had closed his eyes and frowned, there wasn't any form of tactic in which could win this war now, and he knew that all too well. His IQ was top of the line, still a genius in military warfare, science, and politics, a true genius the brought pride to his clan; however, that genius was limited against several thousand A.I. hardware units, it would have been pushed back into a corner anyway.

So he only had one alternative…

Footsteps could be heard by Shikamaru that were drawing in close underneath all the clattering noise by fellow Shinobi. He turned his back to look at woman around the same age as him with that was formally dressed in a black business shirt with a short black skirt and heels. He red glasses matched her red long red hair that was in a ponytail.

"Karin", addressing the woman's name as he turned to her "Are they ready?" He questioned

"Don't doubt the work of Science and Fuinjutsu Shikamaru, those two were almost made for one another." The Uzumaki said with a smirk, "They are already in the pods; we had sedated them and made sure that they wouldn't go into the battle and do something reckless, good thing we thought of doing that as a failsafe."

"I see…" the Jonin Commander released a puff of smoke from his mouth as he sighed and dropped the cigarette onto the ground, stepping on it with his foot. "Then I suppose it is time that we send them of then on their last big journey." He said as he turned and walked out of the room, Karin following his trail as they headed to launch port.

Secretly, no one knew of this aside from the science division and the remaining military veterans of the old shinobi age. While many of those did comply on the project, there were some who were too sincere and too stubborn in following through with the plan, believing that there was another way to save their dying race. Shikamaru and many other knew that they were just attempting to fight for what they believed in, but that goal would just end up being inevitable. Death would come across this place, and there would be no one, not a single cell to repopulate this place.

The two had walked across the hallway and into an elevator which sent them up, the long travel up was silent, before the elevator shook silently from the ground shaking below, causing the two to balance themselves out in their confined space.

Karin walked over to the building design and pressed over the design which glowed into a hologram projector in front of her. She looked over to the building scanners, gazing upon the sections of the large mass. Red signals have erupted around the building, causing Karin to have a swet drop from her forehead.

"Kuso.." Karin said as she moved away "The exterior of the buildings outer rim was destroyed, the barrier seals didn't do a damn thing…."She stated

"What do you expect, those seals weren't made by seal masters like Naruto or yourself, they were made by inadequate shinobi." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, "Those barriers wouldn't have lasted even a second shot against the energy particle beams that the reapers have, if you would have worked with Naruto on those seals then we would be holding ourselves better in this situation."

"Well how was I supposed to know we were going to face CYBERNETIC FUCKING INTELLIGENCE!?" Karin said as she sighed "Kami I swear if Temari was here she would have knocked some sense into you." She gasped lightly before she looked at Shikamaru, whose face was dim with seriousness, but his eyes held so much sorrow in them.

"Well she is not here now is she…" he said with a low monotone, his eyes darkened over. "What she and I had was wiped out long ago…"

Karin looked over to the dark haired male and looked away with guilt, of course she had to spout out his deceased wife's name. She knew he had to bear the news of finding out that his wife and children were all killed by the reapers while visiting wind country, but her mouth had to be her undoing. _'Dammit Karin, you have to go and fuck shit up on the last moments of your life,' _She thought before her mind left those thoughts once the elevator came to a stop.

Once more the massive building had shaken abruptly once more as they move forward heavily. Shikamaru placed his hand on the wall and grunted at the sudden force of movement of the building. "That was really close, they must of hit the command center…" Shikamaru cursed, the were not there long ago and already their chain of command was already gone, that only meant that the reapers had passed by the remaining shinobi and army forces and went directly to the command building, or that the shinobi forces were completely wiped out and that the artificial intelligence were about to unleash a full out assault on the building. It didn't matter with either one on what had happened, they needed to make haste and complete the task at hand before it was too late.

The Jonin walked over to the main section of the room, its large vacancy held eighteen pods that were covered with yellow lights and a layer of chakra that was coated as a sort of defense mechanism and shielding for heavy landings and space travel. Shikamaru carefully and quickly examined each pod with precision, scanning the people and the equipment inside with them. "I thought that they couldn't bring weapons inside of their pods?" Shikamaru question

"We modified the pods a few days ago, some of the weapons and personal belongings are sealed in scrolls in their pouch, but primary weapons are always available in hand incase pod is activated by threatening forces." Karin said, a look in her eyes gazed upon one of pods. "They will be going to off into a foreign world once they wake…everything that they had known and had will be gone from their lives, all we can do now is see them off and make sure that they are secured for the future from any form of threats."

Shikamaru glanced over to the pod that Karin was looking at, he watched her slowly walk toward the pod with slow strides before she was just mere inches from it, her hand touched the chakra foundation that was layered over the pod. He glanced at the dark haired male that was within the pod, his pale skin of his arms showing while his upper body covered up by by a black tunic with a red flame design and a set of fans placed upon the each side of shoulders of the clothing.

The male smirked as he looked over, "I don't think we have to worry about that, Sasuke could handle himself without any worries." The Nara went to a keyboard, typing in the codes as each of the pods let out a low hum, slowly rising up three feet from the air as the light was encased by now a black metal over layer which encased the pod fully. "He will have a family that is lost, but he will still have some with him always; he will have people with him that he can keep close to, people that will remind him that his home is with the people who were always there, not on this planet. That does not mean that he will never forget those he loved, the children and grandchildren he lost, the wife he loved who he will dearly miss." He said as he looked at Karin, "I think that will drive him as much as this project we had."

"Yes I know that…but what about _him_?" Karin's red eyes looked over to the pod Shikamaru stood next to, "do you think he will get over it?"

Shikamaru lowered his eyes and smirked softly, his answer quicker and fast "No, but he will overcome it. It is his nature after all, nothing has ever stopped him from keeping a smile on his face." He pressed one button on the keyboard, opening the roof above as it became a skylight, showing the dark crimson sky that was ignited by the flames of the city. "He has overcome obstacles of tragedy, besides we should have faith in him, after all he was the one who saved the world long before this shit happened."

Shifting around the room occurred as six of the pods forward to the sky light, within moments the chakra that was layered around the black shells moved around in waves before a light pulse occurred in which shot six of the pods into the sky in high speeds, sending them up past into the Ozone, Shikamaru saw the glittering speck of light hat were the first set of pods until they had scattered across the sky becoming nothing more like shooting stars.

"First set of pods released…second set" Shikamaru pressed the button once more and soon as the second set moved a beam of red light shot through into the section of the building, causing a explosion of great force, causing the shinobi commander and the scientist to be blown back by the force. Clatter had fallen to the ground, including many of the chemicals and heavy equipment. The chemicals that had been scattered around the room had lit aflame as sparks from electrical wiring as shot around, enflaming the entrance and only exit of the place.

Shikamaru coughed lightly as he slowly got up, feeling pain jolt up his spine and the feeling of warm liquid coming down the side of his waist. He placed his hand down upon the area slowly removing his hand as he saw deep red soak his hand.

"Kuso…" he muttered softly leaning on his other side as he looked over to the second and third set of pod, while pods in set three were undamaged, four of the pods in set two were destroyed. Two of the pods were immediately obliterated while two of the others were half damaged, but the bodies of a young man and woman were lying on the ground, face down and bloody. Shikamaru frowned at that, the plan was almost ruined if they had fired a more powerful shot in the area of the room. The male leaned over to press the button once more, shooting the last two pods of set two to the sky, disappearing within only seconds after launching.

Shikamaru grabbed the remote switch to the last set of pods and spoke lightly "this is becoming troublesome, don't you think Karin?" he said, only there was no answer back from his fellow companion "Karin?" he questioned before he stared at the opposite side of the room where woman laid on her back still. He didn't know what had happened from the impact, but what if he was able to notice at that time, he would have seen her break her neck from her heavy fall caused by the blast that hit the room.

His chest pained heavily as he looked at the lifeless body of his former friend and former shinobi ally. He h ad felt guilty when her name was not on the list that was posted for the people to join the mission, but it was a vote casted by remaining shinobi war kages of each village and the few commanders that were available. Nine men and women were casted in in order to help against the reaper threat and to one day restore the nation. When she was not picked he knew it left her heart broken and it left Sasuke somewhat distraught, being separated was something that they wished could never happen until their death. Sasuke was devoted to her, would never leave her until she died, sadly, it seemed that day had already come, just not the way either would have hoped.

Now Sasuke would leave knowing that his wife would die without him.

Shikamaru sighed heavily out of emotional and physical stress, the end of the world was on its way and he felt so powerless against this force. How he had wished he had the enthusiasm of his old friend, his drive to take on anything, but he wasn't him. Compared to Naruto he was lazy, sluggish, and only worked in battle strategy and advising, he had seen nothing of battle in centuries, and there was nothing that would help in this segment of life now. Yet despite his incompetence there was something he could do, something that he is able to do to help win this war: shoot the final set of pods.

As he walked to the middle of the room and leaned on a flat side of a desk as he watched the final set of pods move to the center of the room. His eyes grew weary, but remained focused on the far left pod, his eyes never giving in to the blood loss that he was having. As the pods reached the middle, the one which he stared at was focused on was placed in front of his view, sweat dripping down from his face as he gazed at the face of on blonde character and smirked.\

"You know…as kids we were so troublesome, you amongst all of use were the most troublesome of all; pulling pranks out of your ass like it was no joke and having nearly the whole anbu squad come after you. The entire time not one Anbu could catch you, Iruka was always the one in the end." He said as he chuckled, "I think that he knew you would be built for something great, we may have poked fun at it, but I think he really knew…over the years I could see why he had faith in you, why Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama had faith in you…why we all had faith in you in that war…"

His breathing became labored as he smile at the male in the pod "You will feel pain, you will feel loss; however…never forget the people who helped you, the people who supported you, the people who respected and loved you, make that your greatest strength…millions have died and the bonds you had with them will be your greatest strength!e said as he pushed the button

The pods slowly ignited as chakra shot out and shot the pods and launched them into the sky, Shikamaru looked on ignoring the large red light, and the low blaring mechanical sound that was roaring at him. "We will die today….only fourteen will live on. As long as they live, you will have bonds, you will still be connected to our home….you will make out future…Naruto." He said softly before closing his eyes, thinking of his deceased wife, who gave him two amazing daughters, the woman who had loved so dear. _'I'll see you soon Temari…' _was his last thought as a blazing light shout out and soon his whole world turned into a red light.

As the last set of pods unleashed into space the world of Gaea was brought into flames, the crimson flames could be seen from above, with thousands of Reapers coming down from space to crush the remaining sentient life of the land. Once the pods separated from one another they scattered from the four corners of space never being found for the next several of years.

However, no one will never notice the tears that produced down upon the blonde male's face as he laid in his deep slumber in stasis.

_No life will ever remember us…_

_But we will be remembered…_

_I will be the maelstrom that carries a billion souls_

_Those who survived with me will be the ashes of the leaves of a forgotten land, rising as the spring life anew. _

_They will fear us once more…_

_For we are the demons in the shadows…bringing security to those in the day_

_We are….shinobi_

**End of Porlogue**

**So was it, eh? EH?**

**Hopefully this will bring you some excitement for oncoming chapters.**

**So far I only announced two people that were in the pods, Naruto and Sasuke. Will they meet up one day, who knows, but the others will there, you just have to find out who they are.**

**This is Kotei Signing off**


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